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I have a soft spot for La-Mulana personally, the only one I'd call masterpiece (in a subjective sense) in this special hybrid category. It is really a long stretch for how obscure the puzzles get deep into, but the way it delivers the storytelling by giving subtle hints, especially when suddenly get revelations on the structure of the world once your mind works out all the links between the clues and your own game experience in a massive open world of ruins.
I also thought Beyond Good and Evil was fantastic in that regard for similar reasons but with a different approach; the storytelling is mostly linear this time around, but it's delivered by creating a specific game session around the current plot event, making it an extremely varied experience that involves stealth, racing, fights or sightseeing whenever needed.
I'm not sure if Little Big Adventure counts in that regard, but I also enjoyed how nicely it blends world themes (mostly mystical and futuristic) with its own environments and targets.
Honorable mentions for both Prince of Persia trilogies (I especially liked the second iteration in each one) and Braid (even if a bit derivative in that regard). I also enjoy hardcore pure platformers like Super Meat Boy, or even tamer ones like Crash Bandicoot or Ape Escape but I guess it wasn't what you are asking for in this thread.

1) final hexapal wiring puzzle
The reversed roles of the pals hit me like a thunder
2) finding the name of shay's plushie
I especially love how Shay doesn't stress what's its nickname, but he just casually names it
3) the musical puzzle
I actually had to solve this after completing Shay's section adding a well-received extra layer of complexity

I think most of the differences come from people's own opinion on how a narrative experience should be structured.
Some prefer to give priority to a carefully rhythmed pacing; an easier puzzle structure helps in that sense, allowing the developers to craft the precise moments when a certain plot point should be transferred to the player. It also helps in creating an emotional bond, since switching too frequently to the logical side of the brain tends to interrupt that link.
Other people prefer when the authors give greater emphasis on the interaction and less on the plot itself. They prefer to be part of the world through indepth exploration; they also don't usually care for the emotional side as much as the ability to apply their own logic and watching its results.
Since I wasn't really invested in the plot up to the end of the part I (I admit it didn't resonate well with me), I think I could forgive more easily that it took a backseat in part II; that allowed me to go watch everything at my leisure and feel more interested moment-by-moment, even if I didn't actually care how it would have ended.

As a detractor of Act 1, I found the second one to be an amazing ride.
The different opinions don't surprise me though, since during this project I did come to understand that the audience has very diversified criteria in judging an adventure game.

This is the
. The defenders claim it was just an innocent wordplay on piece of armor and shield, while attackers claim that, since the joke was delivered through a sockpuppet, which is an internet slang term for duplicate/fake accounts, Schafer was implying Gamergate's minorities in #NotYourShield are non existent, hence being racist by erasure.

There is a fantastic feeling in easy adventure games as well, but I think the classic LucasArts structure is obsolete if you are going that way and ignores all the improvements of plot-based adventures in recent years, eg more dynamic scenarios and originality in interactions should be prioritized, together with a much bigger attention on synchronous character growth. Any element you pick should enhance your design intentions or the end result would feel unfocused.

Roughly it's something like:
1. Costume Quest: it just managed to remind me my inner child so wonderfully; I am usually very unresponsive to that feeling, but this one just made that miracle. Probably what made me fall in love with DF style in the first place
2. Stacking: Adventure games need evolution so badly and this one brings it in spades; I just love that open world feeling that modern adventures seem to have forgotten
3. Psychonauts: It's just unadulterated fun to play; I think it just missed the shock effect since I was a 3d platformer enthusiast and I love so many; anyway, even if I never got into the plot, I can understand why it's considered a classic
4. The Cave: Fantastic idea, bad execution; still had a fun time overall thanks to a solid puzzle design
5. Broken Age: Huge disappointment, it didn't manage to catch nor the old nor the modern adventure game sensitivity
6. Brutal Legend: Only DF game I tried that I didn't manage to finish; it just didn't click for me, probably I am just not invested in its culture
I still haven't played the rest, but I admit Hack 'n' Slash looks amazing and I hope to give it a shot as soon as possible

I don't really get why there is so much bashing on Dreamfall; I honestly found it to be vastly superior to its predecessor. It never longed to be a puzzle experience, which wasn't really the strong part of TLJ either anyway. It didn't have a good timing, since visual drama/novels still weren't a big thing back then in Western countries and it still had not built an audience to target, yet I found it to be an extremely engrossing experience.
I also don't really get what Broken Age would lose from not being a game at all; it's linear, with minimal exploration, a competent editor could have chosen proper moments to switch visuals and adjust the pacing by cutting some filler ending up with a good Miyazaki-like tale for all ages. Most of my problems actually come from the fact that old-style mechanics aren't gonna empower the story if half-hearted, quite the opposite.

I voted for Steed, ExtraTerrarium and Derelict (2/3 of my choices passed to finals, sadly excluding my favourite pick, Headlander).
In general, anyway, I'd prefer if we don't get more than one point and click in the final trio. We already have a lot of footage of Double Fine working with that format and, given the huge versatility of the team, I'd be more interested in some different form of gameplay (Dear Leader is just remotely an adventure but its method of interaction seems not too different either).